Adrian A. Durlester

Random Musings Archives

Random Musings Before Shabbat-D'varim 5760

Kumu V'ivru

Parasha D'varim is a retelling. You might think that Moshe rabbeinu might
have started this retelling with the story of the Israelite sojourn into Egypt,
descent into slavery, and our miraculous delivery from Pharaoh and Egyptian
slavery. After all, most of the generation that had experienced this miracle was
gone.

However, Moshe starts his story at Sinai, at a time after the revelation and
the giving of the Torah. And he starts his story recounting an instruction from
Gd:

Rav lachem shevet bahar hazeh - You have dwelled long enough at this mountain
(1:6b-JPS)

I thought on these words and what they might mean in a broader context.
Phrases echoed in my head:

"Time to move on, to pickup and go. Time to leave the safety and
security of complacency. Don't look back at either fortunes or misfortunes, as a
whole new future lies open before you if you will but go forward into it."

Parasha D'varim is about forward motion. It retells the sojourn of the
Israelites after they left Sinai, and relates stories of the military victories
along their eventual drive towards the promised land (albeit, with a
"brief" 40 year interval in there somewhere.) Well, yes, there was
almost 40 years of wilderness wandering, but then a huge flurry of activity
towards the end. Moshe starts his narrative with the first stirrings of this
forward motion. What came before that seems not all the important at the moment.

The past is prologue, it is said. Now, all the Israelite history that came
before this instruction, this "time to move on," is it really just
prologue? Surely not. If we look further along into D'varim, past our parasha,
we see Moshe invoking the memory of the exodus-most forcefully and in a central
profession of faith. And the revelation at Sinai, the giving of the law - that,
according to some, is the high point of Jewish existence. And our holy Torah
relates our story back to its origin.

But let's turn this around. Perhaps all that comes before Gd says to the
Israelites "time to move on from Sinai" is prologue-prologue for what
comes next: action. To receive the law, to be promised a land-these are Gd's
actions, Gd's words. Now the time has come for our action - to put into practice
these instructions and show our faith in the Gd who gave them to us (and the Gd
who freed us from Egypt.)

If "rav lachem shevet bahar hazeh" is a simple nudge, then further
along into the journey, as related in our parasha, is a charge, and true push.
Twice we read the same instruction: "Kumu v'ivru." Get and cross over.
First, over nahal Zered, and then nahal Arnon.

As the Israelites are hearing this story retold, where are they? At the very
threshold of another crossing over. The big kahuna crossing. Entry into the land
promised to Abraham and his descendants. The story told in our parasha is an
exhortation, an urging to action - with assurance that, as Gd has done until
then, Gd will see them through safely and victoriously, and be with them.

Moshe made a wise choice here -to deliver this exhortation, this charge,
first. Only later on in Sefer D'varim do we read that Moshe spoke of the miracle
of our freedom from slavery, and then we reed his reminders to us of Gd's
instructions and why we must follow them. Smartly, Moshe ends his speeches with
praise for Gd and then his blessing for Israel-but more on all that when we get
to those parashot. It is the charge: kumu v'ivru, that comes first and foremost.

It's a solid strategy. Imagine for a moment Moshe laying out a long litany
regarding Gd's instructions to the people, with more than a fair share of them
which might be unpopular with the people, and then having to tell the crowd
"OK, Gd says, it's time to kumu v'ivru again." "Not if we gotta
do all that crap you told us we had to do, Moshe!" might come the reply.
(The religious among us, myself included, might think it would make perfect
sense to do it in this order-instructions and then charge-for then Gd is clearly
the motivation for crossing over. But I daresay many, if not most people want
the good news up front, and the details later.) Moshe knows-people will hear
mostly what he says at the beginning and at the end. So he starts with a story
of victorious forward progress (and ends, as we said earlier, with praises and
blessings.) He puts the charge - kumu v'ivru - first.

In our own lives, how many of us have stayed too long at the mountain? How
many of us are at the threshold, and reluctant to cross over. The message of
parasha D'varim is should speak to us now as it did to our ancestors and inspire
us to action. Gd is with you - kumu v'ivru - get up and cross over.